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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9613158" data-attributes="member: 18">I think fantasy is actually a fine genre for RPGs to have emerged from, but I think the problems stem from the specific influences and ideas that Arneson and Gygax had.I feel like if TTRPGs had come from fantasy that didn't have the zero-to-hero factor, and particularly, if RPG magic hadn't originated from the fairly ghastly science-fantasy Vancian mould, we'd have had a much more adaptable and diverse baseline approach to RPGs. Like if the power levels of the heroes had been less farmboy to god, but more in line with pulp heroes who tended to start pretty competent, and if magic had been inspired say, by LeGuin's Earthsea, I think we'd have been a lot better off. And this wouldn't have just impacted TTRPGs, but videogames and arguably even media well beyond that.A different genre I guess does give potential to avoid these problems (high-angle linear power gain, . Science Fiction is so diverse as to beg the question &quot;what science-fiction&quot;? And honestly in the 1970s that's kind of an issue.Superheroes I think would be the most likely to lead to diverse rules and a focus on roleplaying, and that certainly ties in with accounts I've heard of early '80s Champions games and so on, which seemed to be very RP-focused in a way accounts of similar-era D&amp;D games definitely are not (perhaps some of you were even playing in those games). I suspect this would probably have been the best case if I'm honest, even though I like the idea of SF being the starting point.There's a case to be made, though, I think that because D&amp;D was actually so peculiar and specific, that a lot of RPG designers kind of reacted against it rather than trying to copy it, and that's part of why we got so diverse a landscape in the later '80s and '90s, which was probably a good thing.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 9613158, member: 18"] I think fantasy is actually a fine genre for RPGs to have emerged from, but I think the problems stem from the specific influences and ideas that Arneson and Gygax had. I feel like if TTRPGs had come from fantasy that didn't have the zero-to-hero factor, and particularly, if RPG magic hadn't originated from the fairly ghastly science-fantasy Vancian mould, we'd have had a much more adaptable and diverse baseline approach to RPGs. Like if the power levels of the heroes had been less farmboy to god, but more in line with pulp heroes who tended to start pretty competent, and if magic had been inspired say, by LeGuin's Earthsea, I think we'd have been a lot better off. And this wouldn't have just impacted TTRPGs, but videogames and arguably even media well beyond that. A different genre I guess does give potential to avoid these problems (high-angle linear power gain, . Science Fiction is so diverse as to beg the question "what science-fiction"? And honestly in the 1970s that's kind of an issue. Superheroes I think would be the most likely to lead to diverse rules and a focus on roleplaying, and that certainly ties in with accounts I've heard of early '80s Champions games and so on, which seemed to be very RP-focused in a way accounts of similar-era D&D games definitely are not (perhaps some of you were even playing in those games). I suspect this would probably have been the best case if I'm honest, even though I like the idea of SF being the starting point. There's a case to be made, though, I think that because D&D was actually so peculiar and specific, that a lot of RPG designers kind of reacted against it rather than trying to copy it, and that's part of why we got so diverse a landscape in the later '80s and '90s, which was probably a good thing. [/QUOTE]

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